The Pros and Cons of 100% Virtualization

To understand virtualization you must first comprehend what this term means exactly. Look up the word virtualization in any dictionary and you will find the following result:

“Virtualization, in computing, is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as a hardware platform, operating system, a storage device or network resources.”

The different types of virtualization include:

Hardware

Software

Desktop

Memory

Storage

Data

Network

The Pros of Virtualization

The main pro of virtualization is the ability to reduce items into one chunk. This can help save resources and storage requirements. On top of this a company can expect to see huge savings in operational costs. Less power is often required once the new processes are in place and this has a huge positive impact on the environment.

One of the main benefits of using virtualization is that it makes functions such as backups, system recovery and system migration more doable. Virtualization is perfect for creating test scenarios and can be used to improve existing functions in your data center.

In a recent report it was stated that virtualization can help solve cloud hosting integration issues and help speed up your data delivery times.

Implementing virtualization is fairly fast weeks as opposed to months. Plus this can all be done in real time. Great for any company!

The Cons of Virtualization

The key thing to keep in mind here is that the virtual environment is a shared environment. Your hosting account uses many virtual machines and each of these guest machines is unaware of what is happening on any other machine at any given time.

Taking the above scenario into consideration if the performance of one machine is affected this will affect all other machines run by the same host. This could possibly lead to slow down times or the inability to access your account.

There are certain barriers in place which need to be considered before taking the virtualization route. One of these is when scanning or defragmentation is taking place. This can cause a system slow down. Plus when files are deleted on virtual disks the space is not always made available again resulting in wasted space.

Conclusion for Virtualization

If you are considering implementing virtualization then take the time to weigh the pros and cons of virtualization and see if it is right for your business requirements.

If you would like to discuss the topic of virtualization further please do so by visiting our Data Center Talk Forum and leave your comments on the article there.